Because it's Panto Season...

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

There are loads of silent films on Youtube (a joy, if you like watching effete men in eyeshadow staring wildly and waving their arms around, which I do, for some reason), and, though Abel Gance's 'Napoleon' isn't up there - yet - D.W. Griffith's 1921 'Orphans of the Storm' is! And it's hilarious! I haven't seen it since I was about 10 so just had a dim memory of how silly it was, but I've just watched parts 9-14 (from the bit where Danton - the fairy godmother of the piece - storms the Bastille (oh, yes, it's that sort of film) to the end, where Danton rides his white charger to...oh, but I won't spoil it for you! Robespierre, btw, is the chap who looks like a cross between the Child-Catcher, the Cabaret MC and Kenneth Williams as Dandy Desmond, and his existence apparently has a negative effect on horticulture. He's also a Bolshevik, according to the inter-titles, and watch out for the wonderful Charleston-dancing Flapper Sansculotte chicks with headbands and off the shoulder dresses!
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7TE68skx4As

Comments

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Well, how much can one expect really from a film that calls Danton "the Abraham Lincoln of France"? XD;;

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

Given Griffith's politics, 'Abraham Lincoln' might be an insult! His 1915 'Birth of a Nation' was originally called 'the Clansman' and tells of the 'heroic' struggle against the North and the 'evil'of black emancipation by the knights of the Ku Klux Clan...I suppose in that context, Griffith must have moved to the (cough) left by 1921!

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I guess he must have. But the point stands, that whatever one thinks of Danton or of Lincoln, likening them in any way is completely historically nonsensical.

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

Yes - though the whole film is nonsense from start to finish! It's not only a bizarre comparison (unless its simply saying to the audience 'here's a guy the French make statues of')but one which, in 1921, probably would have alienated a fair number of the audience! Maybe they had different intertitles in cinemas in lynching areas...

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Very true. It's been several years since I've watched it--and it left me with very little desire to so again any time soon, despite its unintentional comedic effect--but I do remember generally how ludicrous it was.

It's an interesting possibility you bring up about the titles. After all, it's fairly easy to change title cards (as opposed to spoken dialogue), so it wouldn't surprise me if there were different versions.

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

Titles would have been easy to change: obviously, the ease of translating them was what made silent stars global stars - and made the coming of Talkies so drastic (some Hollywood films were reshot with Spanish-speaking actors, using the same sets and costumes at night: the Spanish 'Dracula'is supposed to be better than the Lugosi version). I don't know if titles were changed to suit the politics of regions, but it's possible (I imagine the title describing the CSP as 'Bolshevik' would be applauded in some world cities in 1921!) Most studios destroyed their silent stock so I suppose there are so few surviving versions now it's not possible to compare.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I remember that from the film class I took a few years back. It's really a pity we can't compare versions on this one...

[citoyenneclark.livejournal.com]

And calls Robespierre the "Pussyfooting Tyrant"

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

That too.

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

I've been sitting here for a minute trying to figure out what your icon says. Help!

[citoyenneclark.livejournal.com]

Oh, it says Objection. Its the Objection from the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney games. I believe our resident Maratist is also a fan of the game. I thought it was suitable as Saint-Just is doing the same finger-point that the lawyers do in the game.

[jonahmama.livejournal.com]

It was on TV here last week, but I couldn't get through more than a half hour of it. The hilarity wears off long before the film's 3-hour running time. I had to watch some of it, because the Gish sisters were cousins of my husband's great-grandma. :D

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

God - that's cool! I think my grandmother was named 'Lillian'after Lillian Gish.They used to show a lot of silent films on TV in the late 80's - Channel 4 would do whole weekends of 'Napoleon', Erich von Stroheim etc. - but you never see them at all now...they're fascinating, though, especially if you get slightly inebriated beforehand.

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Oh, joy. :D :D :D I love Orphans of the Storm. And watching effete men flail. :D

[misatheredpanda.livejournal.com]

I have nothing to say that hasn't been said before! What I distinctly remember is Danton storming in with his army and personally rescuing the heroine from the guillotine... classic. I do think I was only half paying attention when I watched it though (but I have it on DVD, back in the states). It is a shame though, so much of it is nice to look at (including the Gish sisters! oh the beautiful sapphism...), but... well... you know. Oh those bolshevik anarchists...

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

The last 10 mins or so really are laugh-out-loud funny (well, I did) - a horse/guillotine version of those scenes where the heroine's tied to the railway track...

Fabulous sets, though - I love the streets!